You, Me, and Everything in Between
by allyskay
Summary: Glimpses of growing in, growing out, and growing up because, at the end of it all, they finally found each other. A drabble collection of SasuSaku and how two people fall into place together.


My OTP finally happened and this is my tribute to them. After Ch. 700 came out, I kept wondering how they finally got to where they were and couldn't imagine it without a little happiness, sadness, anger, and everything in between, so I decided to write about it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>1. Hope Floats<strong>

There he is and here you are. You imagined it would be different from this. Perhaps a melodramatic unexpected meeting by the bench he left you on. Or even some kind of strange welcoming at the gates of Konoha with Naruto's yelling in tow. But this is what you get instead.

He has finally returned from his literal journey on the road to redemption and you've just gotten out of Ichiraku - bloated stomach and all. There is a weariness in his eyes and a tightness in his jaw. And for you there are noodles still stuck between your molars and the cow lick you never managed to manage. You thought you'd be more prepared for this or at the very least bothered to comb your hair for this moment. But there he is right in front of you, a literal arm's length away, on a clear summer day in the middle of a dusty road in the hidden leaf village. As if it was natural that he was there.

So close, but in this distance between the both of you, you know better. You know that it is much wider and deeper than any physical plane could fathom. There were bridges burnt and rebuilt, roads laid to waste and shortcuts found, scars that will never heal and some that did. Volumes of history on heartache, loss, pain, and life stand between and, somehow, against the two of you.

"I…So…You're back ho-," you say and your coherency flounders even further. The word _home_ gets tangled on your tongue because you are afraid to hope for too much and you seal your lips instead. Instead you hope that maybe the word can just stay inside your mouth and be digested with the rest of your food. Slowly, you find yourself inching backwards and distancing yourself from the crevasse between you. This distance, you find, is much safer. There is no chance of falling over the edge.

He looks at you as if he's meaning to say something, lips slightly apart with the words apparently stuck in his throat. Yet the only words that fall from his lips are: "I'm back." You want him to continue to say _for good_.

Seconds of silence follow. Unbearable and excruciating seconds because, for once, you are not fighting for your life and you are not fighting for his. A sad smile graces your lips because you realize that peace in the context of Sasuke is almost non-existent.

He looks abundantly out of place. The Sasuke of your memories belonged in battlefields and large, sweeping plains. He belonged in secret hideouts and smack dab in the middle of catastrophe. Not here and now in this time of peace. Certainly not with the wind sweeping through his raven hair and the sun illuminating his pale skin and, as your childhood fear dictates, certainly not with you.

Caught in the middle of your thoughts, you are surprised when he takes a step forward, effectively closing the gap between you two. An arm's length turns into a mere finger's and suddenly you see his dark brooding eyes that he's kept since boyhood. You hear his slow, steady breaths. And then all at once you feel something within you die and wither away.

And something is reborn in its place.

This something feels like cupped sunshine, like breaking the surface, like weightlessness. It feels like waking up, like rain, like a fan to a flame. It is consuming and frightening and exhilarating. But as soon as the tide rushes in, it recedes and your feelings along with it. But you feel this _something_ still lodged in your chest, occupying space and taking root.

He pokes your Hyakugou seal like he did when he left and walks ahead of you.

"See you around."

He glides away nonchalantly and you are standing there speechless and a notch above insulted. You have half a mind to yell out after him and treat him exactly as you would Naruto and half a mind to go up to him punch him square in the jaw with pinpoint chakra incision. After all this time to be brushed aside stung in ways and places you didn't imagine. It even made the something in your chest ache.

You are a split second away from following both halves of your mind when you hear the waves break. The tides ebb and flow and leave nothing untouched as one simple realization floats to the surface. It is small and maybe fragile, but you hold it to be true:

He took the first step to fall off the edge.

And you might as well follow after him.


End file.
